Colorado Trip and Photo Session of my New Niece

This past week was a special week. First off, it was my Anniversary on the 20th. I've been married 8 years to the best husband ever. Happy Anniversary sweetheart! Eternity to go!

Not only was it my anniversary but it was also the week of my "momcation" in Colorado. Nothing like spending your anniversary hundreds of miles away from your hubby right? That wasn't my favorite but it was my husbands gift to me. I mean, I got to spend a whole 5 days without my kids! I love my 3 children dearly I really do but it was soooo nice to get away!

I went to help my little sister with her 2 week old baby girl Alexis Michelle Bosen. She was absolutely gorgeous and the most precious thing you've ever seen. I was there to do whatever my sister wanted/needed of me. I cleaned, cooked, changed diapers, stayed up at night with baby so my sister could sleep a couple extra hours, decorated the nursery, showed my sister how to use her new sewing machine, made baby headbands, went grocery shopping, went for walks, saw a movie, took pictures, and just hung out with my sister (that was probably my favorite part). But a close second was probably taking tons and tons of pictures of sweet little Alexis. We even got one of the pictures I took printed in black and white in one of Staples engineer prints. It was huge! We also got some insulation foam from Home Depot and made a "photo canvas" for the nursery. It was awesome!  We glued purple satin ribbon around the edges of the foam to finish it off. The purple matches a lamp we picked up at a yard sale that goes perfect with the quilt I made her. It's a work in progress but pretty cute so far!

But the best photos came later here are some few of my favorites...Honestly I love them all!

 I couldn't decide between color or BW

I think I've found a new hobby!

Kiera's 7th Birthday!

My baby girl turned 7 this weekend! She is growing up so fast and is such a sweet, fun, full of life, and spunk, little girl. Kind of reminds me of myself. We had a fun little get together with the cousins a few neighbor friends, and some family friends who we lovingly call "Aunt Kara" and "Uncle Ben." My own cousin Tim Stone also came! It was fun to have him there. The kids still talk about our camping trip with him in Port Townsend we took in June. I just wish I had gotten a picture of him while he was here! I got too caught up in being in the moments I guess :) We had a lot of fun! Here are some picture from Kiera's special day.

I rigged up Kiera's door with a dollar store table cloth filled with balloons so when she opened it up in the morning the balloons fell in on her. It was fun and her happy screams in the morning were well worth the effort.

Lip Gloss girl. (This tube didn't last long though. Kiera was greatly disappointed to find that her little sister had eaten it all during her nap this afternoon! We're going to have to go get a replacement).

Kiera and her friend Lizzie Cowling. She made this frog pillow herself! It was very well received. Yes, this girl still loves frogs! Turning 7 hasn't changed a thing.

The CAKE!

 Happy Birthday Kiera! We love you so much and will miss your adorable toothless smile.

What this mama has been up to lately

I'm just going to post a few quick photos of some of my most recent projects that I have been working on because I need to get caught up with all of Kiera's birthday festivities from this weekend before I head of on my "momcation" to Colorado. I am going to go help my little sister see her BRAND NEW BABY! I am so excited! Almost an entire week of being just me without kids. I don't even think my mind has actually grasped that I am actually leaving and that I am doing this. I don't know what I am going to do with myself! I do love my kids. I really do but I am actually looking forward to spending time on my own just being "Brittany" instead of, "mom! he's not sharing, Mom I'm hungry, Mom can I? on and on. Anyway It'll be fun and I am going to love it!

But here is what I have been up to lately. Some of you may have already seen these pictures since my Facebook page and Instagram seem to get more attention than the blog these days. But if you haven't here they are.

I have taken up machine quilting on my home sewing machine. It is a lot of fun and this week I finished this quilt (it is very similar to the one I made for my sister's baby shower) but it is a tad larger and doesn't have any purple in it. I ship it off tomorrow! I hope it gets loved to pieces! I'm kinda sad to see it go...

I was asked to make some cakes for a daddy daughter combined birthday party where she wanted a combination of "My Little Pony" and Darth Vader. And since I couldn't draw Vader riding the pony we settled on the idea of two cakes. I think they turned out great and the customer was very happy too. I love the rainbow behind Vader the best I think.

We tried making vanilla ice cream in our new ice cream maker that we got from our neighbor. It was a huge success!

Here's a sneek peek at Kiera's birthday cake! It turned out so well!

I also canned 4 jars of dill pickles in the middle of it all. It was fun being able to use cucumbers from the garden. I will more than likely do more when I get back. That is... if my garden survives while I'm gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Success

A couple weeks ago after getting home from teaching my Zumba class. I went out back to check on the garden. It had been awhile since I had done anything out there beside water. And look what I found!

And that was only a fraction of it. I went and picked some more after this picture was taken and there is still quite a bit left in the garden.

We've also been enjoying the occasional tomato and a plethora of cucumbers. I am really enjoying my afternoon snacks. Don't these look yummy?!

Also the weather has treated us VERY well this summer. It has been a very unusual summer for our area but I am not complaining. I love that the kids can go play outside and stay active pretty much everyday all day and they only come in for the occasional snack or drink. We also have our stash of popcicles to keep everyone happy.

Last night I glanced out the window to find Emma sitting in the firepit pretending to "cook" dinner with the pea gravel on our boulder seats. She also had a winter hat on from when the kids were playing dress up and "house" on the back deck. I thought she looked rather cute!

Well I am off to enjoy me an hour and a half of Boot Camp and Zumba! 

Happy Moments

Just thought I'd take the opportunity to post some pics of the happy moments we've had these past couple weeks. 

The kids playing in the backyard with the neighbors enjoying a glass of ice water

trying new recipes. These are broccoli, cheese and turkey swirls in puff pastry dough.

Me enjoying some relax time while Emma brushed my hair. This is her new all time favorite past time. Whenever she sees me on the computer she grabs a brush and climbs onto the computer chair and stands behind me with a hair thing between her teeth (I must do this too). I love it!

Taco night out on the back deck.

And I don't know if I've shown you our new van yet. I might have to go back through the blog to make sure but this is our new Toyota Sienna. Our other one that was in the wreck ended up being a total loss. Isn't she pretty?

One of those days....

Why does it take me turning into a mad, crazy woman before my kids take me seriously? And even when I get to that point they still don't take me seriously.

I need a REAL vacation! A week or even just a weekend without kids, fighting, whining, chores, tattles, he did this, or she won't give me my...etc. So tired of Dan's work schedule and tired of feeling stuck without anything to look forward on the weekends because we just don't have those anymore. What is a weekend anyway? Tired of feeling like I can't do what I want because having 3 tag-a-longs would just make it unbearable. There's only so many outings I can take on my own with kids in tow that I can handle before I reach my "DONE" point. This mama needs a break! And not just a 3-4 hour long break. A real honest to goodness multiple day and night kind of break. Oh and a maid to come clean my house and do my laundry while I am gone so I can relax when I get back.

Oh how I wish....

Glenn Family Reunion at Fort Steven's

This year at the beach was a little different in that it was Dan's family reunion but Dan didn't come til the end of the week. So the kids and I camped on our own for the first 3 nights. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be since Grandpa and Grandma and the other Aunts and Uncles helped out a lot. But it sure wasn't the same without daddy there.

I didn't take as many pictures as previous years due to the fact I had to be more hands on without Dan around. But I did get some cute ones for this years Christmas calendar that I do every year. Here they are:

Grandma Shellie running from Luke and Emma who kept trying to get her pants wet.

Adelle

Arya all bundled up. It was COLD at the beach!

Me trying on hats at the hat shop in Sea Side. I liked the moose one.

Emma having fun with the sand toys

Look mom! I got my hands all clean again!

Mmmm nothing like smore's after riding your bike around camp

Florence

Ryan rented a 6 person bike trolly for an hour while we were in Sea Side. Those things are hard work!

Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. Thanks for putting this all together!

Grandpa and Emma watching everyone while we rode the bumper cars in Sea Side

Kaleb (Do you know how hard it is to get this kid to smile normal for a picture?) I got one!

Kiera trying on a silly hat at the hat shop

Mary and Kiera riding the carousel

Mary at the hat shop. I thought this hat was very fitting for her since we celebrated her birthday while we were at the beach this year. She's turning 6!

Ryan and Michelle

Steven and his baby girl Arya

Steven and LaDean with Arya

Each night Grandpa reads a story to all the grandkids and at the end of the trip each family get to take one of the books home. I love this tradition!

Timmy, Kiera, and Ethan decided to be brave and ride the tilt-a-whirl in Sea Side. It was hilarious to watch their faces! But they must have liked it because Kiera and Ethan rode it again with Dan when we went back on Friday before heading home.

Timmy playin' in the sand

Michelle with Luke

We had a lot of fun and look forward to this trip every year. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for putting it all together for us! And thank you to Steve and LaDean for caravanning down there with me and for everyone that helped me with the kids while Dan was gone. You made the trip much easier for me. Now to get the Calendars put together...